Illegal Foreign Object

In April of 1987, Faith No More released 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳. The last album to feature original vocalist Chuck Mosley (no, I’m not acknowledging the cavalcade of spares, including Courtney Love, who preceded him), 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 is a band on the verge of something special.

Mosley, with all due respect, was barely a singer, and his fate with the rest of the band was probably sealed when he eschewed the vocal lessons the band had been saving money for in favor of new stage clothes. But, regardless of his deficiencies vocally, Mosley was an interesting presence onstage, his puppet-in-a-strong-breeze gyrations an entertaining aspect of FNM’s early years.

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 is a good listen, from top to bottom. Mosley’s “off-key Robert Smith” yelps suit the music (much like Paul Di’Anno’s less-refined vocals on the 1st two Iron Maiden albums or Pink Floyd’s psychedelic era with Syd Barrett). Plus, he deserves some credit (or blame) for doing the whole rap-rock vocal before just about anyone else. It’s very different from the more commercial Mike Patton “Epic” era. That’s not a bad thing — just different. It’s a wilder, looser sound — more chaotic.

When I was 11 or 12, there was a mix tape that got passed around by all the local skateboard brats. That cassette turned a lot of us on to the likes of Fishbone, Firehose, Suicidal Tendencies, and, yes, Faith No More for the very first time. My first listen to “We Care A Lot”, a raised middle finger of a song that according to keyboardist Roddy Bottum was a kind of snotty response to the “We Are The World” craze of 1985, blew me away. Mosley’s monotone delivery took some getting used to but Billy Gould’s bass thumped like a motherfucker and Jim Martin’s guitar work was heavy as balls and exactly what I was way into at the time. The band was clearly onto something cool. The line “It’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it” was sing-songy perfection, bored its way into my young mind, and at least up to the time of this writing, has refused to leave).

Several months after that fateful day, a classmate brought the Introduce Yourself cassette to school. Sharing headphones during our lunch break, a half dozen of us took turns listening to tracks like the funky, call-and-answer “Anne’s Song”, the rhythmic space romp “Death March”, and the punishing “Spirit” (which offered us a taste of what was soon to come with The Real Thing). It was a joyous time for us all.

Look, Mike Patton on lead vocals unquestionably gave Faith No More that extra bit of something special that it needed to break into the mainstream. He also gave the band some stability in the frontman role (which had almost never existed with Chuck). The band has said that with Mosley on lead, Faith No More felt like it could implode at any second. They’d know better than anyone else, of course, but at least for that moment in time, Chuck Mosley was exactly who the band needed. Introduce Yourself is a rock solid record, holds up to this very day, and somewhere around early-’88, totally blew the minds of a gaggle of dickhead headbangin’ skate punks at a middle school lunch table.

Tracks:
1. Faster Disco 8/10
2. Anne’s Song 7/10
3. Introduce Yourself 8/10
4. Chinese Arithmetic 8/10
5. Death March 9/10
6. We Care A Lot 10/10
7. R N’ R 7/10
8. The Crab Song 7/10
9. Blood 7/10
10. Spirit 9/10

Grade: 80